Prostitution as a Profession

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As a profession which outwardly focuses on calling out women in many of the societies, prostitution does fulfill the needs and desires of many but ruins the basic right of dignity for others. It has been called as the ‘exchange of sexual pleasures for financial benefits’ imposing several causes that lead ‘n’ number of women to indulge in its practice. These include: Poverty, lack of sex education, kidnapping and abduction, trafficking, alcohol abuse, incest rapes and other religious, social and biological factors. Prostitution is often also called as ‘forced sex work’ since sex workers are willingly indulged in this profession to make up money but the prostitutes are mostly coerced to engage in sexual activity by a third person. Research describes that the number of women who choose prostitution from a position of safety, equality and genuine alternatives is minimal. Hence, a majority of women fall culprit to trafficking. The stigmatized work isn’t even legal in most of the countries at least for those who see this profession as their means of living.

India does claim to have legalized ‘Prostitution’ but still acquires many illegal brothels that represent involuntary sex work and fail to provide respect and recognition to the women involved and the profession in general. Hence, The Indian Laws are vague in itself. It is due to this reason that Prostitutes in India have to suffer from a lot of exploitation both emotionally and physically though they do have the basic citizen rights. On the top of it, Male prostitution doesn’t even get identified in India. It is still a debating viewpoint if the gaps of gender inequality be filled in this aspect since sex work is something that’s not acceptable in a socio-cultural country like India where even women who take pride in this profession are degraded with the stereotypes attached.

There’s a lot of emotional, psychological and physical trauma associated with Prostitution that can be understood by no one other than the one who’s experiencing it. The harm caused by sex buyers , the abuse by customers , lack of respect by the society for the prostitutes and their children if any , the never ending shackles of poverty and the constant looks of being judged crush their souls and leaves them dead from inside. Majority of the female prostitutes become prone to health risks like HIV, develop anger issues, a low sense of self-esteem, anxiety, depression and post- traumatic stress disorder after being prey to extreme elements of violence.

At the end of the day, there’s a need for empowering young women and females who’re trapped in these professions through the means of education, awareness and counseling because as much as it is a personal choice for one to indulge in Prostitution, a safe working environment should be the top priority.

-   - Sadaf Mehta

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